1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device and method for measuring the properties of cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention relates generally to a device and method for measuring the properties of cells, and, more particularly, to a device for measuring the properties of cells, which analyzes multiple properties including the electrical properties containing the impedance of cells, mechanical properties containing deformability, stiffness, etc., and/or optical properties containing size, fluorescence, etc., thus analyzing the properties of the cells with high reliability. Further, through the use of the device for measuring the properties of cells according to the present invention, electrical stimulation including voltage, mechanical stimulation including pressure, and/or optical stimulation including light is applied to cells, and the reactions of the cells to the stimulation are analyzed, and thus multiple properties of the cells can be actively analyzed.
Generally, analyzing the physical properties of cells is an action which is widely performed for the diagnosis of disease or the examination of drug effects or toxicity. In particular, in order to analyze the effects of an anticancer drug, an optical method of cultivating cancer cells in the form of a two-dimensional monolayer using an in-vitro method, processing the anticancer drug and analyzing the fluorescence of cells has been mainly performed. However, since such a two-dimensional monolayer cancer cell cannot reflect the properties of actual three-dimensional cancer tissue in the human body, it is difficult to apply information about the effects of the anticancer drug, obtained from the two-dimensional monolayer cancer cell, to clinical conditions within a human body (in-vivo method) without change. Therefore, there is a need to culture cancer cells in a three-dimensional form which is similar to three-dimensional cancer tissue within an actual human body (in-vivo like environment), and analyze the effects of an anticancer drug. Accordingly, a cell property measurement device capable of effectively analyzing the properties of cells clustered in three dimensions is required. Furthermore, in order to improve the reliability of property analysis, a method capable of collectively measuring multiple properties including optical, electrical and/or mechanical properties is also required in addition to the conventional optical measurement method.
In order to measure the properties of these three-dimensional cells, only one of an optical method and an electrical method has been used in conventional technology. First, conventional methods of measuring the optical properties of three-dimensional cells are those which process a fluorescent probe on three-dimensional cells and measure a fluorescence image using a confocal microscope. The confocal microscope is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,863,226, 5,022,743, 5,032,720, etc. However, this method entails a long measurement time, makes long-term real-time measurement impossible due to the influence of the photo-bleaching of the fluorescent probe, and influences the activity of cells due to the biochemical influence of the fluorescent probe. As a result, it is difficult to measure the properties of cells while maintaining the activity of the cells for a long period of time. Further, such a method has limited reliability because it can measure only the optical properties of cells rather than multiple properties of the cells.
Further, conventional methods of measuring the electrical properties of three-dimensional cells are those which install electrodes around three-dimensional cells, or provide an orifice through which three-dimensional cells pass and install electrodes on both sides of the orifice, thus measuring electrical properties such as impedance of three-dimensional cells. These methods are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2004-0209351 and 2006-0199173. However, since these methods use a well having the same size as a three-dimensional cell or an orifice having a size smaller than the three-dimensional cell, the space in which cells can be cultured and proliferated is not present, and thus it is difficult to measure the properties of a three-dimensional cell while culturing and maintaining the three-dimensional cell for a long period of time. Further, since such a method can measure only the electrical properties of cells rather than multiple properties, reliability of measurement is limited.